Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓
Mont Blanc
Ingredients
Directions
Make the lemon foam
Dissolve the gelatin in boiling water.
Add the grated lemon rind and sugar, stirring until dissolved.
Before the mixture sets, fold in the beaten egg whites.
Serve
Serve with custard made from the egg yolks and boiling milk, sweetened and flavored with vanilla.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,187 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).
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Gelatin + sugartop 7% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together2,778 recipes
Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).
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Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together35,032 recipes
Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).
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Lemon + vanillatop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together5,961 recipes
Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).
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Lemon + milktop 15% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together19,053 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Gelatin
- Sets the lemon mixture so the folded egg whites hold their airy structure.
- Eggs
- Whites whipped to a stiff froth give the dessert its light, airy texture; yolks make the custard.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the lemon mixture and balances the tartness of the lemon rind.
- Lemon rind
- Adds bright citrus aroma and flavor to the lemon mixture.
The step that matters
Fold in the egg whites before the mixture sets. Once gelatin starts to set, the mixture thickens quickly. If it has already firmed up, the whites cannot be folded in evenly and the light, airy texture is lost.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (gelatin, sugar, egg, milk, vanilla):
- Figfits better
- Peachfits better
- Strawberryfits better
- Lemonthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against gelatin, sugar, egg, milk, vanilla. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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